I recently had a commentary published in The Salt Lake Tribune that I thought you might find interesting. Through the years, I’ve had many people new to Utah mention how different our state is from others. Although it is invisible to most people who live here, certain things stand out to new folks that are just part of the “Utah culture.” Although some comments are positive—like our high volunteerism rates and how so many people here are involved in recreational and physical activities—other aspects of the culture have been termed “disturbing.” In my experience, these tend to revolve around two areas: one is the religious divide in neighborhoods and communities; and the other focuses on “masculine defaults. I will talk about what I shared in this editorial and add some additional comments about how it plays out in the Church.

RESOURCE: Are “masculine defaults” part of the unspoken bias holding Utah women back?

This episode focuses on the recent sister missionary age change from 19 to 18. I actually really love this for a number of reasons. I talk about those, and I also highlight results from a study I led several years ago about the leadership development gained by women serving full-time missions for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint. Listen in!

UWLP Mission Study: The Leadership Development Gained by Women Serving Full-Time Missions

In September of 2025, the Utah Foundation – a partnerorganization that I have respected for years – published a report titled, “Households and Heritages: How Family Health Hooks into Social Capital.” The report begins with a statement that aligns with Latter-day Saint beliefs: “Family is the basic building block of society and a core component of social capital. Stable families provide ways for children to socialize and develop emotionally and intrinsically. The larger community benefits from this stability, especially when family connections are strong.” This report provides some results that are a little surprising in terms of Utah's ranking in reading to your children, screentime, eating dinner together, and overall time spent with the family.

RESOURCES: https://www.utahfoundation.org/reports/households-and-heritages-how-family-health-hooks-into-social-capital-index-metrics/